Thursday, September 1, 2011

Generation to Generation

God knows us by name and He desires that we call on Him by name. Debby, Diana, Kathy, Mona, and Babs have each used a method of study and have had a personal word from the Lord! AMEN ~ PSALM 67 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face shine on us— so that Your ways may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. May the peoples praise You, God; may all the peoples praise You. May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for You rule the peoples with equity and guide the nations of the earth. May the peoples praise You, God; may all the peoples praise You. The land yields its harvest; God, our God, blesses us. May God bless us still, so that all the ends of the earth will fear Him. ~ "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will— to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us. With all wisdom and under
standing, He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. In Him we were also chosen,having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory." Ephesians 1:3-12 ~ "Again Jesus began to teach by the lake ~ “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” Mark 1:1-20 "For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” ESTHER 4:14-15"Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others." Phillipians 2:1 "With the Lord Jesus Christ nothing is impossible. No stormy passions are so strong; He can tame them. No temper is so rough and violent; He can change it. No conscience is so disturbed; He can speak peace to it and make it calm. No person ever need despair, if they will only bow down their pride, and come as a humbled sinner to Christ. Christ can do miracles upon their heart. No person ever need despair of reaching their journey's end, if they have once committed their soul to Christ's keeping. Christ will carry them through every danger. Christ will make them conqueror over every foe. What if our relatives oppose us? What if our neighbors laugh us to scorn? What if our place be hard? What if our temptations be great? It is all nothing, if Christ is on our side, and we are in the ship with Him. Greater is He that is for us, than all those who are against us." RC RYLE ~ The Holy Spirit abides within each believer on this side of the cross. John the Baptist was born in the spirit ~ LUKE 1:35-37 "The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.” AMEN this is a PROMISE from Almighty God! As a mother worries about her child, she is not trusting God's plan and purpose for His child's life. The mother of Jesus sang this out when greeted by the leaping of John the Baptist in the womb of Elizabeth. “My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for He has been mindful
of the humble state of His servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is His Name.
His mercy extends to those who fear Him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with His arm;
He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.Ruth Bell Graham was born at Qingjiang, Kiangsu, China, as Ruth McCue Bell. Her parents, Dr. L. Nelson Bell and Virginia McCue Bell, were American medical missionaries at the Presbyterian Hospital 300 miles north of Shanghai. Ruth returned to the U.S. at the age of 17 in the fall of 1937, and enrolled at Wheaton College, outside Chicago, Illinois, where she met Graham. They married on August 13, 1943. In 1945, after a brief stint as a suburban pastor, her husband became an evangelist for Youth for Christ. The Grahams moved to Montreat near her parents where the Grahams continued to live for the rest of their married life. Despite Billy Graham being one of the world's most famous Baptists, his wife remained a Presbyterian and often taught Sunday School. Between 1945 and 1958, Mrs. Graham gave birth to five children, whom she raised — sometimes single-handedly — while her husband was away on extended national and international evangelistic crusades. The three daughters and two sons who survive her are all actively involved in ministry, including eldest son Franklin, who heads the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) founded by his father. Ruth Graham had been in frail health since suffering spinal meningitis in 1995. This was exacerbated by a degenerative osteoarthritis of the back and neck that began with a fall while testing a swing she made for her grandchildren in 1974 that resulted in chronic back pain for many years. During the final months of her life, Graham was bedridden and had contracted pneumonia. The day before Ruth's death, Billy Graham released a statement through the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association stating, "Ruth is my soul mate and best friend, and I cannot imagine living a single day without her by my side. I am more and more in love with her today than when we first met over 65 years ago as students at Wheaton College." On Monday, June 11, at Ruth's request and subsequent to consultation with her family, she was removed from life support. On June 13, 2007, following her decline into a semi-coma, Billy Graham announced that he and his wife had decided to be buried beside each other at the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina. Ruth died at 5:05 p.m. June 14, 2007, at her home. Since the death of his wife, it has not been an easy adjustment period for Rev. Billy Graham. One month after her passing he was rushed by ambulance to a hospital. Ruth and Billy were married for 63 years. Rev. Graham's health has been fairly strong. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 1990. PSALM 63 ~ You, God, are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for You,
my whole being longs for You,
in a dry and parched land
where there is no water.
I have seen You in the sanctuary
and beheld Your power and Your glory. Because Your love is better than life, my lips will glorify You.
I will praise You as long as I live,
and in Your name I will lift up my hands.
I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise You.
On my bed I remember You;
I think of You through the watches of the night.
Because You are my help,
I sing in the shadow of Your wings.
I cling to you;
your right hand upholds me.
WE PRAISE THY HOLY NAME

9 comments:

PSALM 27:8-11My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, LORD, I will seek. 9 Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, God my Savior. 10 Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me. 11 Teach me your way, LORD; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors.

HEBREWS 4:14-15 ~ “ Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.”

Colossians 3:1-4 ~ “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

ISAIAH 7:13 -14 ~ “Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” ~ Immanuel means God with us.

PSALM 25:6-14Remember, LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. 7 Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you, LORD, are good. 8 Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. 9 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. 10 All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful toward those who keep the demands of his covenant. 11 For the sake of your name, LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it is great. 12 Who, then, are those who fear the LORD? He will instruct them in the ways they should choose. 13 They will spend their days in prosperity, and their descendants will inherit the land. 14 The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.

Isaiah 5:20-21 “ Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. 21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.” Do we go to God’s throne of mercy and grace with confidence? The Holy Spirit does His job of convicting us of our sin, so that we will verbalize that sin by it’s name to God. The Holy Spirit is making us holy, as God the Father is Holy ~ AMEN

ISAIAH's WAKE UP CALL - IN THE YEAR KING UZIAH DIED, ISAIAH lived in the castle of the King, and the King died without knowing God and went straight to hell. When we think we have time to talk to our loved ones before they slip into eternity ~ we are AWAKENED by catastrophes, STORMS, EARTHQUAKES, PSUNAMIES, and death. Let us ASK the Holy Spirit to hover over our loved ones and that He give us the words that will convict them to consider their final destination for eternity. Heaven and Hell are both "reality".

"The devil, no doubt, is everywhere. That malicious spirit is unwearied in his efforts to do us harm. He is ever watching for our halting, and seeking occasion to destroy our souls. But nowhere perhaps is the devil so active as in a congregation of Gospel-hearers. Nowhere does he labor so hard to stop the progress of that which is good, and to prevent men and women being saved. From him come wandering thoughts and roving imaginations--listless minds and dull memories--sleepy eyes and fidgety nerves--weary ears and distracted attention. In all these things Satan has a great hand. People wonder where these things come from, and marvel how it is that they find sermons so dull, and remember them so badly! They forget the parable of the sower. They forget the devil." ~ J.C. Ryle

At the command of the LORD they remained encamped, and at the command of the LORD they journeyed; they kept the charge of the LORD, at the command of the LORD by the hand of Moses (Num 9:23).

After their exodus from Egypt, the Children of Israel traveled towards the Promised Land at the direction of the LORD. When He commanded they stop, they stopped. When He commanded they move, they moved. They didn’t map out their own course or set their own schedule; of their many mistakes and sins during this time, they were obedient here – they kept the charge of the LORD.

This is a good example for us to follow in our own lives; we are to be governed and directed by the will and word of God, not by our own whims or desires. How often do we go our own way, contrary to where God would have us go? How often do we chart our course and set our feet in a direction that suits our fancy, but never considers the will of God. How often do we settle in and get comfortable when we should be seeking the mind of God who may want us girded up and ready to move? Or how often are we on the move, going, going, going, when the Lord would have us slow down and settle down?

The Bible tells us not to be like the mule that needs to be pulled along, or the colt, which needs to be yanked back. Let us be mature, looking to the word of God and earnest in prayer, seeking the mind of God in every decision. Let the all knowing, all seeing God direct your life; He knows where and when you are to go and when you are to stop.